The Forster energy centre goes online

Powder-coating fuelled by green energy

With its new energy centre at the St. Peter/Au plant starting up in June, the Forster Group takes a major step forward to ensure that it has a climate-friendly and future-proof energy supply. In this way, the use of fossil fuels (natural gas) by the location declines towards zero.

This project is funded by the Climate and Energy Fund and is carried out under the program "Transformation der Wirtschaft".

Why a new energy centre?

The high level of energy required by the St. Peter/Au plant has always been a key concern of its day-to-day operations. A detailed analysis found that about two thirds of the overall gas consumption were due to the powder-coating process. Two units – the film water dryer and the powder curing oven – need constantly high temperatures (120 and 200°C respectively) to dry and cure coated elements. These units were previously heated by directly fitted gas burners. The wish to drastically reduce gas consumption and change to renewable energy sources led us to a solution which, while difficult in technical and economic terms, is nevertheless a real game changer.

Biomass rather than natural gas

The new energy centre has at its core an innovative biomass boiler with a thermal oil heater fired by regionally produced wood chips. The heated oil passes through special heat exchangers, thus replacing the gas burners in the two ovens. This change enables us to reduce natural gas consumption to close to zero. Moreover, the residual heat from burning and the waste heat are used to provide hot water for initial treatment and room heating (heat recovery). The biomass is thus used not just as a source of the process heat but also covers a multitude of energy needs.

A special feature of our solution is that while such biomass thermal oil boilers normally involve at least 5 megawatts, the Forster solution requires just 1.4 megawatts. Accordingly, a customised solution was developed and installed – an example of Forster’s innovative engineering that is at the base of the project.

Sustained reduction of CO₂ emissions 

 Based on the average consumption of natural gas over the past ten years (around 5.6 GWh per year), the conversion to biomass opens up an impressive savings potential.

• 85% fewer CO₂ emissions,
• CO₂ emissions cut by 11,261 tons over ten years.

These were not just estimates but were figures clearly verified by a detailed monitoring concept. The system is fitted with many test points that exactly register all energy flows, efficiency factors and residual emissions. In this way it is ensured that the planned effects will be achieved and checked in the long-term. The project is financed mostly from own resources, with funds received from NextGenerationEU of the European Union.

Nominated for TRIGOS NÖ 2025 

We are proud that our innovative pilot project “energy-intensive process of chromium-less initial treatment and powder-coating without the use of fossil fuels” was nominated in the climate protection category for the TRIGOS NÖ 2025, Austria’s most prominent award for responsible economic activities: Being considered for nomination is by itself a major award and it highlights the innovative power and sustainability claim of our project.

Comprehensive strategy for sustainability 

Building the new energy centre is a key part of our all-encompassing strategy for sustainability. In this context, another important project was realised at St. Peter/Au already in 2024: optimising our compressed air supply system. It involved an investment in two modern compressed air generators with heat recovery units and regulated refrigerant dryers. The waste heat thus obtained (same as the heat recovery system in the powder-coating plant) is fed into the heating system to heat rooms and the supply of hot water. In this way, cuts to the tune of some 100 tons of CO₂ could be made additionally.

The project team watching the startup of the new energy centre. Left to right: Paul Steger, Andreas Grader, Thomas Prantner, Silvia Killinger, Pamela Forster, Günter Bachbauer, Karl Schoisswohl.

Regionally available wood chips are used for energy generation.

Powder-coating with green energy – the powder-coating plant at St. Peter/Au is supplied with process heat from the new energy centre.

The buffers (capacity: 105,000 litres each) were put in place in the summer of 2024.

This project is funded by the Climate and Energy Fund and is carried out under the program "Transformation der Wirtschaft". www.klimafonds.gv.at